The Asia Cup matches that were initially scheduled to be held in Colombo are now likely to be played in Pallekele, Sports Tak has learned. Colombo has been receiving extreme to heavy rainfall and in order to make sure that matches don't get washed out, the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) is pondering shifting the venue for all the Super Fours matches away from Colombo and hosting the matches in Pallekele.
Altogether, six matches have been scheduled to be held in Colombo, including the final of the tournament. A total of five Super Fours contests are slated to be played in Colombo while one Super Fours match is scheduled to be played in Lahore.
The ongoing edition of the Asia Cup is being played in a hybrid model were Pakistan was given the rights to host four matches while Sri Lanka was asked to host nine games.
Interestingly, the weather has played spoilsport even in Pallekele, the most recent of which being the high-voltage contest between India and Pakistan. The fixture between the two arch-rivals that was played in Pallekele on September 2 (Saturday) came to a premature ending after the rain interfered after the completion of India's innings and officials were forced to call off the game.
Moving forward, the weather forecast in Pallekele is not promising at all but when compared to the weather forecast in Colombo, Pallekele stands a better chance of hosting a match and producing an outcome than Colombo.
No official confirmation on the change of venue has been made yet by the ACC. An announcement can be expected in a day or two. As per the original schedule, Colombo is slated to host its first match of the ongoing Asia Cup on September 9 (Saturday).
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